--- title: Trump Accuses Top Justice Officials of Political Bias description: President Donald Trump accused the FBI and Justice Department of political bias against the Republican Party and his administration. canonical: https://time.com/5130167/donald-trump-tweet-nunes-memo/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-02T12:50:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T22:23:00.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Is Stepping Up His Attacks on His Own FBI and Justice Department og:description: Trump accused the country's top law enforcement officials of political bias og:url: https://time.com/5130167/donald-trump-tweet-nunes-memo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb81352b5ee9e18fa/6988fa5b7cdbac096bd5bcc7/gettyimages-913194526.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Trump Speaks At The Republican National Committee Winter Meeting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Is Stepping Up His Attacks on His Own FBI and Justice Department twitter:description: Trump accused the country's top law enforcement officials of political bias twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb81352b5ee9e18fa/6988fa5b7cdbac096bd5bcc7/gettyimages-913194526.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Is Stepping Up His Attacks on His Own FBI and Justice Department ## Video: House Committee Votes to Release Classified Memo on Russia Probe [Watch (HLS stream): House Committee Votes to Release Classified Memo on Russia Probe](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/r3PMXpGQ.m3u8) (0:59)  _Published 2018-01-30. Brushing aside opposition from Department of Justice, Republicans on the House intelligence committee voted to release a classified memo that purports to show improper use of surveillance by the FBI and the Justice Department in the Russia probe._ by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Updated: Dec 12, 2023 10:23 PM UTCPublished: Feb 2, 2018 12:50 PM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks at the Republican National Committee winter meeting at the Trump International Hotel on February 1, 2018 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump speaks at the Republican National Committee winter meeting at the Trump International Hotel on February 1, 2018 in Washington, DC.Pool—Getty Images by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Updated: Dec 12, 2023 10:23 PM UTCPublished: Feb 2, 2018 12:50 PM UTC President Donald Trump accused the country’s top law enforcement officials of political bias against the Republican Party and his administration in a tweet he sent early Friday morning. The tweet came just hours before the expected [release of a memo](http://time.com/5128772/trump-nunes-memo-release/) commissioned by G.O.P. lawmakers that chronicles the F.B.I.’s purported abuses of its surveillance authorities during the 2016 presidential campaign. “The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans — something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago,” Trump tweeted. “Rank and file are great people!” > [](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/959389424806191104) It is the latest marker of the rift between the president and the justice officials he appointed. Amidst the ongoing Department of Justice investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election, Trump — and a good number of his Republican allies in Congress — have accused these officials of political bias and ulterior motive. [The memo](http://time.com/5130009/james-comey-fbi-nunes-memo/), spearheaded by House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes of California, is said to describe the F.B.I.’s unlawful wiretapping of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign advisor. Republicans have called on Trump this week to release the memo. “This stinks to high heaven,” North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows, the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, [tweeted](https://twitter.com/RepMarkMeadows/status/956008123986333696) on Jan. 23\. “If this is anything what it looks like — the FBI changing course on investigation, putting their thumb on the scale to undermine Donald Trump and essentially help Hillary Clinton — that is as wrong as it gets. This demands further investigation.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5130167/donald-trump-tweet-nunes-memo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5130167/donald-trump-tweet-nunes-memo/"},"headline":"President Trump Is Stepping Up His Attacks on His Own FBI and Justice Department","datePublished":"2018-02-02T12:50:13.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T22:23:00.000Z","description":"Trump accused the country's top law enforcement officials of political bias","url":"https://time.com/5130167/donald-trump-tweet-nunes-memo/","keywords":["politics","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb81352b5ee9e18fa/6988fa5b7cdbac096bd5bcc7/gettyimages-913194526.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb81352b5ee9e18fa/6988fa5b7cdbac096bd5bcc7/gettyimages-913194526.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Speaks At The Republican National Committee Winter Meeting","caption":"President Trump Speaks At The Republican National Committee Winter Meeting","creditText":"Pool—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/politics/","name":"politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5130167/donald-trump-tweet-nunes-memo/","name":"President Trump Is Stepping Up His Attacks on His Own FBI and Justice Department"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"House Committee Votes to Release Classified Memo on Russia Probe","description":"Brushing aside opposition from Department of Justice, Republicans on the House intelligence committee voted to release a classified memo that purports to show improper use of surveillance by the FBI and the Justice Department in the Russia probe.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/r3PMXpGQ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-01-30T00:44:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/r3PMXpGQ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5130167/donald-trump-tweet-nunes-memo/","duration":"PT59S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5130167/donald-trump-tweet-nunes-memo/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```